Two Years Later

Today is January 1, also known around these parts as Winter Classic Day.

It’s been two years and I still have the same thought when I first saw that sheet of ice in the middle of The Ralph: I can’t believe it worked.

Today’s game in Fenway looks like it will be another monster success as well. Yesterday the snow was falling, and despite a steep asking price on StubHub I was more than tempted to take the plunge knowing how special the Winter Classic is. Still, I don’t think anything will ever top what happened two years ago in Orchard Park.

The next outdoor game will be staged Jan. 1 at Boston’s Fenway Park between the Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers, and it should be every bit as popular as the last one was, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. But if hockey fans 10 years from now are following an N.H.L. that is healthy and prosperous, they can look back at that snowy afternoon outside Buffalo as the day the league saved itself.